Multiobjective Imperialist Competitive Evolutionary Algorithm for Solving Nonlinear Constrained Programming Problems

Nonlinear constrained programing problem (NCPP) has been arisen in diverse range of sciences such as portfolio, economic management etc.. In this paper, a multiobjective imperialist competitive evolutionary algorithm for solving NCPP is proposed. Firstly, we transform the NCPP into a biobjective optimization problem. Secondly, in order to improve the diversity of evolution country swarm, and help the evolution country swarm to approach or land in the feasible region of the problem, three kinds of different methods of colonies moving toward their relevant imperialist are given. Thirdly, the new operator for exchanging position of the imperialist and colony is given similar as a recombination operator in genetic algorithm to enrich the exploration and exploitation abilities of the proposed algorithm. At last, the new approach is tested on two well-known NP-hard nonlinear constrained optimization functions, and the empirical evidence suggests that the proposed method is robust, efficient, and generic.